Ammunition.



J. PATTEN.

AMMUNITION.

IIIIIIIIIII h FILED NOV. 12. I915.

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AMMUNITION. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1915.

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J. PATTEN.

AMMUNITION.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1915. 1 1 92,678. Patented July 25, 1916.

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JOHN PATTEN, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

AMMUNITION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Application filed November 12, 1915. Serial No. 61,142.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN PATTEN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ammunition, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to the explosive charges used in guns of large caliber and more particularly to means for lessening the erosive effects of the powder gases upon the bore of the gun.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a device which may be used in connection with the regular powder charge to provide an envelop of relatively cool gases around the main body of gases produced by the main charge.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form of such device which is arranged in convenient form and which may be conveniently and quickly placed in position when making up the charge for the gun.

With these and other objects in view, as will appear from the following description, the invention may be embodied in various forms, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a portion of the breech of a gun, showing the main powder charge,

, the projectile and the use of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 except that the charge is shown in side elevation and a portion of the charge is of slightly different construction from that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlargement a OJ. a portion ()1 the cucumfeience of a 1g. 3. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention. Fig. 6 is a detail section substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a similar view substantially on the line 77 of Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section through a container in which the belt is carried before it is placed around the powder charge, the section being substantially on the line 8-8 of Fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a transverse section through the container shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal section of one of the sticks which make up the outer belt of the powder charge.

Referring to the drawings, 10 lndicates the gun, 11 a projectile therein, 12 the breech block and 13 the usual mushroom carried by the breech block.

The projectile 11 may be provided with the usual rotating ring 14 which cooperates with the rifling of the gun to rotate the projectile. The ring 1% also forms a gas seal to prevent the escape of gases forwardly along the surface of the projectile. Arranged between the projectile and the breech block is the powder chamber in which I have illustrated three bags of powder 15, 16 and 17, in Fig. 1. The powder contained in the bags 15, 16 and 17 may be that ordinarily employed and the bag 15 may be, as shown, of the usual size and adapted to substantially fill the bore of the.powder chamber. The bags 16 and 17, however, are preferably of smaller diameter than the bore of the powder chamber to provide annular spaces therearound in which belts of material about to be described may be placed. In Fig. 1 these belts are indicated by the numerals 18 and 19 and in this figure there is also indicated a wad 20 of plastic material at the forward end of the bag 15.

This material will be described hereinafter.

Referring to Fig. 3 the central shaded area indicates a charge of ordinary powder such as is used in high powered guns, this charge being usually in the form of sticks or pencils 2:2 which are shown in cross section in Fig. 4. The sticks 22 are usually contained in a bag or casing 23 of any suitable fabric and before placing the charge in the gun I wrap around it a belt of material adapted to generate an envelop of relatively cool gases around the main body of gases produced by the charge 21. For convenience I make this belt in the form of a strip which may be rolled up and kept in a hermetically sealed container 33, shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The belt consists of a series of small tubes 24, preferably made of sheet explosive such as celluloid, gun cotton, or material as is employed in manufacture of smokeless powder, these tubes being filled with granular ammonium carbonate or its equivalent for the purposes of the present invention.

The tubes 2% may have their ends closed by suitable heads 25 which may be of any preferred form and sealed to the tube in any suitable manner in order to hermetically seal up the ammonium carbonate which is of a volatile nature. The tube 24: is preferably made about three-eighths of an inch in diameter and of any desired length and in order to form the belt these tubes are woven together by means of strips or ribbons 26 of explosive material.

From Figs. 2 and 5 it will be evident that the tubes 24L and the ribbons 26 form a simple construction which may be readily rolled. up as shown in Fig. 9 and placed in the container 33. The ends of the strips may be secured, as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 wherein the ends 27 are turned back over one of the tubes .Ziandslipped under the adjoining tube.

Referring to Fig. 5 it will be seen that a single strip is spirally woven through the tubes Q-l thereby forming the endless belt as distinguished from the sheets formed with a plurality of ribbons, as shown in Fig. 2. In the latter construction the belts are not endless.

Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the main core or charge 28 has a conical front end to provide a space for a wad 29 of ammonium carbonate or a mixture of petroleum jelly and granular ammonium carbonate. On account of the volatile properties of ammonium carbonate it is necessary to protect it from long exposures to the atmosphere to prevent it from slowly vaporizing. Then the wad 29 is made of pure ammonium carbonate its surface can be greased with Vaseline or other suitable material which will protect it from vaporizing for several days or weeks; but when it is to be stored for an indefinite period for future use the wad will be placed in an air tight container under which condition it does not deteriorate or vaporize. When the wad is removed from the container for use the surface thereof can be rubbed with vaseline which will prevent it from vaporizing and giving off its characteristic odor. Thus coated a wad may be kept several days or weeks exposed to the air before being used.

The purpose of providing the ammonium carbonate wad is to protect the bore of the gun from the heat and erosion of the very hot powder gases. When the solid ammonium carbonate is forced against the surface pf the gun bore by the high pressure the heat produced by friction decomposes it into liquid carbon dioxid and ammonia and this thin liquid layer lubricates and cools the bore of the gun. The ammonium carbonate is very rapidly decomposed on the side exposed to the hot gases. When the temperature reaches 1,000 F., the ammonia is decomposed into its component gases,

hydrogen and nitrogen, which together with the carbon dioxid mix with the hot gases of the explosive and assist in propelling the projectile.

Sometimes instead of using a wad of solid ammonium carbonate, as shown in Fig. 2, the front powder charge is arranged to provide space for a short and larger belt of tubes 20 filled with granulated ammonium carbonate which performs the! function of the wad 29; and sometimes a plastic mixture of ammonium carbonate and Vaseline or other suitable lubricant 21 is smeared over the front end of the charge to assist in lubricating the bore of the gun. When the smoke produced by the oily substance would be objectionable it may be omitted.

The object of filling the tubes 24: with granulated ammonium carbonate is to en able the hot powder gases to penetrate into the tubes and fill the space around the granules under high pressure to quickly decompose and vaporize the ammonium carbonate into its component gases which mix with the outer layer of powder gases thereby producing an envelop of cooler gases which protect the rifling and bore of the gun from heat and erosion. It has been found from experience with guns of large caliber that the friction between the rotating band 1 and the rifles in the surface of the gun generates an intense heat and when this is augmented by the heat from the powder gases a thin film of metal on the interior of the gun is melted and swept away by the gases. The carrying off of a thin film of metal at each shot of the gun soon results in eroding the gun to such an extent as to render it useless. The wad 29 is spread along the bore of the gun, in the rear of the projectile, and the heat resulting from the friction between the rotating ring 14 and the bore of the gun, is to some extent utilized in volatilizing the ammonium carbonate. The additional heat necessary for this purpose is derived from the powder gases and in this way an envelop of relatively cool gases is formed on the inner surface of the gun, this envelop protecting the surface from the heat and erosive action of the main powder gases.

Then the main charge of powder is exploded the ribbons 26 of explosive material are ignited and also the tubes 2a, the heat thereby generated volatilizing the ammonium carbonate in the tubes 24: and thus surrounding the main powder gases with a relatively cool envelop, in the powder chamber of the gun. In this envelop the relatively cool gases protect the bore of the gun and as the gases expand and move forward in the wake-of the projectile the envelop of cool gases will continue to serve its purpose and, while there will be a certain amount of commingling of the cooler and hotter gases, the resultant temperatures, along the inner surface of the gun will be much lower than when my invention is employed.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement and that the drawings are merely illustrative of the principles of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A powder charge comprising a main core of explosive and a surrounding belt of tubular containers having ammonium carbonate or its equivalent therein and which are woven together by strips of combustible material.

2. A powder charge comprising a main core of explosive inclosed in a suitable fabric and a surrounding belt of hermetically sealed tubular containers having ammonium carbonate or its equivalent therein and secured together by one or more strips of explosive material.

3. A powder charge comprising a main core of explosive inclosed in a suitable fabric, and a surrounding belt of hermetically sealed containers having ammonium car'- bonate or its equivalent therein said containers being woven together by one or more strips of explosive material to form a tubular fabric.

4:. A powder charge comprisinga fabric container filled with explosive and a metallic container having therein a tubular fabric composed of hermetically sealed tubes having ammonium carbonate or its equivalent therein, said tubes being formed of explosive material and woven together by one or more strips of explosive material and the fabric formed thereof being adapted to surround the first mentioned container.

5. An endless belt of hermetically sealed containers having granular ammonium carbonate or its equivalent therein, said containers being woven together by one or more strips of explosive material.

6. An endless belt of hermetically sealed containers formed of explosive material and.

having granular ammonium carbonate or its equivalent therein, said containers being woven together by one or more strips of explosive material.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

JOHN PATTEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

